With the tempature still rather cool & chilly in most the cities in the U.S.A & Europe, watching the new Fall & Winter 2010 collection just taken place last month was a treat! all the beautiful coats, jackets and sweaters wants me want to buy them all! (I can’t possibly wait 6 more months till they show up in the store! haha). Dries Van Noten’s fall winter 2010 collection feels just right for these cold weathers still hoovering over us. Here is a front row view of the Dries Van Noten’s beautiful collection!

The collection was a serene piecing-together of classic menswear tailoring, washed-out military fabric, fifties & sixties lady like shape and sweatshirting. What makes it’s cool is that all the pieces are such a simple, in a very wearable way that none of the pieces screams “FASHION!!” and the subtle details and “feel” of each pieces that mix the uptown girl look with a street feeling. Not sure how to explain it, but that shows the genius of Dries Van Noten!

Click on the video player below to see his fall-winter 2010 collection

Hello everyone, I would like to introduce to you our contributing editor Michele Gramesty who is an amazing jewelry designer and a fashion insider at New York City. She had lend her design talent to various of famous design houses such as Halston, Ralph Lauren, Carolee Jewelry….. just to name a few! Today she would like to share with how you can dress up your shoes with a touch of sparkle & update your look!

I have been quite intrigued by the Prada plastic shoe with jewels since they strutted down the spring 2010 runway show, having said that I would never wear plastic shoes..

This Prada collection of shoes served as great inspiration for more shoe jewelry, ankle adornment and chic shackles designed by Mish.

If you are interested in ordering a custom pair of Swarovski crystal shoe jewelry email me at TheMishDish@gmail.com our store should be up and running very shortly so please stay tuned.

Dior has done it again! Besides their fabulous clothing & accessories collections, even their AD campaigns are now captivate our imaginations! Directed by Olivier Dahan , featuring French actress Marion Cotillard, Dior has released a mini film of its own – a lady James Bond adventure. For this ad campaign, Dior has invited 2008 Oscar winning French actress Marion Cotillard as its advertisement spokesperson as well as the famous photographer Peter Lindbergh to take shots. Taking a fancy to Marion’s noble temperament, so Dior selected her to be the model who can match with the new Lady Dior Cannage Bag perfectly.

“Chapter 1: A Lady Noire Affair”. The film shows off the men in perfectly pressed Dior Homme suits, and Marion Cotillard rushing up the Eiffel Tower in amazing black heels, distinctly shaped “Diorette” sunglasses and the Lady Dior Handbag. Dior has cleverly put their best selling handbag on display with a short film and the episodes will continue. I’ll be blissfully await the next video made in New York “Lady Rouge”.

Below you can view “The Lady Noire Affair”, which was released in May. Do not expect to get all the answers right away. If you pay careful attention there are clues provided. So who will save lady Dior? We will have to wait and see.

It’s said that the reason why this bag is so famous is kinda related with our familiar Princess Diana. “In 1995, at the Cezanne Art Exhibition sponsored by Dior Corporation, the former French First Lady Bernadette Chirac sent Princess Diana a new model of Christian Dior bags as a gift.” Then Dior immediately named this unreleased bag “Lady Dior” – gracefully to the name extremely. And Diana also liked this bag so much that she carried it in many important official occasions, then this bag has fired up.

This latest Lady Dior Cannage Bag 2009 is crafted by the soft supple suede which sends out a light lambency, patterned with cannage embroidery and logo cannage jacquard lining. With unique cannage geometric surface and two hemicycle handles, it’s also attached with silver Dior logo metal hard ware and the metal protective feet. Besides, there is an open top with protective flap closure on top and a zipped pocket inside. Available in two colors: black and brown. And as usual, Luxe-Gift.com we are always trying to bring anything fabulous to our customers, so we’ve this uber fabulous Lady Dior bag in size small for our lucy customers! Click the link here to visit our online boutique (Luxe-Gifts.com)

OMG! I am crazy about this Limited Edition FENDI Grey Jersey Peekaboo Satchel w/ Hot Pink Leather Lining!! It’s so uptown chic yet downtown cool! Combining the everyday material as the jersey fabric that we wear as the sweatshirt with luxurious hot pink color leather, it’s a must have for every hip fashionistas!

The Fendi Peek-a-Boo bag is an “underground” celebrity it bag. It’s a pretty low-key handbag, , but it just screams luxury.

We’ve been reporting many different style of the Fendi Peekaboo Satchel in our blog, but this new jersey peekaboo is one of my favorite one, because it has a very similar shape to the Hermes Kelly bag, but this Fendi Peekaboo satchel has a classic shape without seeming “snoby” and bourgeois like the Hermes Kelly…. and it’s way more hip and easy to carry. Don’t get me wrong i love Hermes, but compare to Fendi’s peekaboo, I like this bag more, it’s just my opinion.

If you love this bag as much we do, the bag is available is Avaliable at Luxe-Gifts.com ! the Fendi boutique told us there were only 3 in the U.S.A and we’re lucky to get one directly from them! Come check out our store!

What’s the first thing that comes into your mind when you think about the famous Italian fashion house “FENDI” ? those big “FF” logos all over the place right? If you love their logos then you can’t get enough of it ( Just like I am such a CHANEL “CC” logo freak! haha) but if you hated their “FF” logo then you probably would totally disregard any of the FENDI handbags.

BUT!!! Since in Spring/Summer 2009 collection continues to Fall/Winter 2009 and 2010, Fendi has came up with all different type of the new “IT BAG” name “Peekaboo Bag”. It’s sophisticated & understated! all the bells & whistles are inside of the bag! so when you close the bag all you see just a understated handbag but when you leave it open, the top droops down and reveals all different types of beautiful lining inside of the bag. From beaded “FF logo” to Fur & snakeskin lining!

Here is one of the many beautiful “Peekaboo” bag, this one is the Black Patent Leather Peekaboo with embossed Gold color checkerboard lining. (Available at Luxe-Gifts.com)

This crinkled patent Peek-A-Boo bag is so understated and ladylike that I almost can’t believe it’s Fendi. I mean, where are all the bells and whistles? There’s not even any snakeskin on this bag! The truth is that this bag doesn’t need anything extra to make it work. It has an old fashioned, sophisticated charm that defies trends.

The simple shape of the bag combined with the sleek patent material and the pronounced seams creates a sharply tailored look that will work for a lot of women. For edgier fashionistas, the Peek-A-Boo would make a great bag for the office, but I think a lot of women will find that this is a highly versatile, high quality accessory that can coordinate with a lot of looks.

The details on this bag are so luxurious and plentiful that it’s hard to know where to begin. The inside of the Peek-A-Boo is made of a fabulous laser cut suede with gold paint that will make you want to reach into your purse at every possible opportunity. The gold metal hardware is understated and beautiful. And the interior compartment of the bag is ingeniously divided into two sections, which each have pockets of their own.

Fendi keeps making me sad. I want to like Fendi, I want to embrace their bags for the past couple seasons, but I rarely find myself doing so. Especially seeing their ugly Fendi “B” bag, makes me loose faith in this fabulous fashion house…..

(This is the super ugly “B” bags!!! barf !)
Recently, Fendi is sneaking in with some bags that we are liking, which gives us hope that Fendi is trying to get back into our hearts. The Fendi Peek-a-Boo Bag is the most recent popular bag from Fendi, being seen in many renditions and carried by celebrities. Let’s take a closer look at the Peek a Boo.

Fendi’s exquisite black and gray dégradé leather Peek-a-boo bag with a decadent gold leather interior is a subtle way to display your style wealth. Carry this beautifully crafted investment piece open to accent a professional ensemble with a flash of hot metallics.

Black goat leather tote with burnished silver-tone metal hardware. Fendi tote has a dégradé black and anthracite effect at front and back, handle at top, logo-embossed turnlock fastenings at top, pouch compartments at front and back, push-stud fastening straps at each side, a long detachable shoulder strap, internal zipped compartment and has a degradé gold and black leather and black suede lining.

When I saw this bag I quickly ordered 2! So I can keep one for myself and one for our lucky customer at Luxe-Gifts.com. It’s a limited edition now only available at Luxe-Gifts.com for $2,650

There is a similar one on Nordstrom it has the same silver metalic effect on both front & back but inside is all suede lining and the clasp at the top opening is gold instead of this one of the kind hand etched silver antique silver finished as the one on Luxe-Gifts.com

Treat yourself with this fabulous classic bag that will last you for a long time!! I am glad I got mine !! woo hoo!

One of the world’s most famous and fabulous couture house Christian Lacroix has gone to the wall, filing for voluntary bankruptcy in order to protect the company from creditors in Paris this summer. It was a sad day for all of us who loves fashions and to me, I felt the sadness personally (I will explain why in this blog later on)

In 1987 after Bernard Arnault, of global luxury giant LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, which is the owner of Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior and Givenchy, asked Christian Lacroix to create a bespoke couture house for his luxury goods giant. At that time Lacroix had just received a Council of Fashion Designers of America award for his creations at Jean Patou and the majority of experts foretold him the brightest future of the next big star after Yves Saint Laurent.

Lacroix draws most of his inspirations from his roots – the south of France, mediterranean. In early childhood, Lacroix attended bullfighting events and enjoyed Gypsy and Provencal traditions as well. Some time afterwards his family moved to Arles, a city in the south of France, in the Bouches-du-Rhône department. It was the city of southern culture, with breathtaking views and expansive tempers. There was a yearly carnival during Easter, when people and women especially put on their brightest, best clothes, which combined old vintage dresses with laces, modern high heels and hats. Maybe that’s was the source and inspiration of the Lacroix’s fashion vision.

In Lacroix’s very first fashion show in 1987, he designed a puffball skirt “Le Pouf”, was an instant fashion classic. A taffeta or satin balloon of fabric that fell like a parachute from the waist and gathered at the hem, it reinvented the ballgown for the late 20th century. “I always love to do scrapbooks and collages,” he explains. “I was alone in a hotel in Florence, cutting up some old fashion engravings from the 1880s with bustles, and I was playing around and I had the idea to cut the skirt like a mini-skirt and to put some modern legs underneath.” Would he be happy to be remembered for inventing the pouf? “Why not?” he laughs. “When I’m on the phone I’ll sketch silhouettes, and very often it’s still a pouf that I draw.

While it is for sure that Lacroix has been affected by reduced spending amid the economic crisis,the roots fo its troubles lay much deeper. According to Patricia Pao, executive of Pao Principle, a retail New York-based consultant group, “Lacroix, while beautiful, has long struggled to find an audience.” she said. The major problem of Lacroix has always been that he could never really come to realization how to make his gourgeous pieces work for the modern working woman. The problem was, and still remains, that the designer kept creating clothes in a style of a Spanish matador, for example, with gypsy fringing, splashes of 18th century corsets and neon psychedelia (more often all in the same piece), which were never practical for wardrobes of working women. And what is even more, the items were not cheap, either.

The major luxury groups such as Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Gucci, and Hermès are now mostly prospering due to the diversity of their holdings. In spite of the recession and crisis, perfume sales, for example, are holding up relatively well. According to MHLV, sales in its fashion and leather accessoires sector went up by 11 per cent to 2.1 billion dollars in the first quarter of 2009.

Haute couture, the basis of Christian Lacroix’s operation, will never be able to make the kind of profit that perfume, accessories and ready-to-wear fashion make, and this turns out to be a major reason for the label’s demise. While prices for dresses haute coutute often climb up to $10,000 to $250,00, in reality there are very few pieces that are actually being sold. Unlike Chanel, christian Dior and Armani, which have a long ago created their bestselling perfumes and accessories, but even tho how much I love Christian Lacroix I hate to say he has still continued to rely on its gorgeous, but very expensive dresses.

In summer 2009, Lacroix’s company owner, Florida-based Falic Group, has been involved in serious discussions with a group of investors from Switzerland since late last year. In a letter to his 125 staff, Lacroix wrote that he will give “200 percent” to keep the 22-year-old couture house in one piece, to “preserve the know-how, without which the lungs and the heart of the house couldn’t exist.” Lacroix is renowned for lavish and colourful couture shows, and is one of the main drawcards at Paris couture week each season. The reality is that couture customers are few…. Don’t you wish the world is still like those movies back in the 50s and 60s everyone went through the whole 9 yards to dressed up and looking fabulous, well, as much as we like them to be, it’s still a fantasy and I really hate to see my hero, mentor, who inspired me to be a fashion designer. and here is the story why I was deeply sadden to see Huose of Lacroix filing bankrupt.

Since I was little, I’ve always love to draw, sketch beautiful dresses. I’ve always LOVE bright colors, beadings & embroideries embellishments. When I was in sophomore in high school, I started to think which college I want to attend and told my father I wanted to be a fashion designer. Of course as being the oldest son in the family and from a traditional Chinese family, my father was not happy about it, infact we’ve been fighting ever since daily after I’ve told him I wanted to choose fashion design as my career. So one day I mustered up some courage and called the French embassy to get a list of address of the fashion houses in Paris then I mailed them my amateur design sketches to ask them what they think of my designs and if I have what it takes to be a fashion designer and which university to go.

2 months went by, I’ve received no reply of course but one day I received an handmade envelope that’s from France, I was so excited and opened the letter, there it was, an hand written 2 pages letter from Monsieur Lacroix. He told me that I should attended Parson School of Design in NYC and encourage me to study fashion as my major and career. I showed the letter to my dad, because of this letter, it has changed my father’s view on the path I wanted to choose and it changed my life then I went to Parsons School of Design in NYC in year of 1992. Every season I will mail monsieur lacroix some sketches so he can give me some critiques, and lasted from 1990 ~ 1995. Here is a photo of the letters I’ve received from Monsieur lacroix.

Here is a Christmas card I’ve received in 1992 from monsieur Lacroix, wishing me good luck in my first year at Parsons School of Design in NYC

Here are just a few of my designs when I had my own collection (2001 ~ 2003) after I graduated from Parsons School of Design. Can you tell where I got my love of bright & cheerful colors inspirations from? haha

Now I’ve graduated from Parsons for 12 years, even tho I’ve never made it big in the fashion industry, but I still thankful that I am able to do what I love for living – designing ! and all of this wouldn’t happen if it wasn’t because of the very 1st letter I’ve received from monsieur Lacroix & his encouragements. So now seeing his company went bankrupt, all I can say is we’ve lost a great talent in the fashion industry!

But we don’t wanna end this blog in a sad note…. so here is a clip from the hit show “Absolutely Fabulous” that feature Lacroix haha. As we all know “Eddy” idolize Lacroix like “GOD” so of course in the very last episode of “Ab Fab The Last Shout” when her daughter “Saffy” is getting marry & in need a wedding gown, who did she called? of course Christian Lacroix ! Click on the photo below to view the video!